Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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210. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the level of debt at 31 December 2017 owed by each local authority by lender in each of the years 2010 to 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25816/18]

John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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It is a matter for each local authority to manage its own finances in a prudent and sustainable manner. In accordance with the Local Government Act 2001, a decision to borrow money is a reserved function of the elected members of a local authority. Section 106 of the Act provides that local authorities must obtain the consent of the appropriate Minister to undertake borrowing.

My Department does not hold the information in the format requested however the total loans payable from 2010 to 2016, as reported in the audited Annual Financial Statements of local authorities, are set out in the following tables. Table 1 contains total loan payable figures for 88 county, city and town councils from 2010 to 2013 and table 2 contains the figures for 2014 to 2016 (the most recent year for which audited accounts are available) for the 31 local authorities. The decrease in total loans payable from €4.7bn in 2013 to €4.1bn in 2014 is mainly attributable to the establishment of Irish Water.